Martin Odegaard will feature for Norway against Kazakhstan this afternoon allaying fears that he was carrying an injury from Arsenal’s clash with Brighton.
The Norway international took a boot to the shin from Yankuba Minteh during the first half of Saturday’s 1-1 draw and repeatedly received treatment from the physio before being withdrawn on 74 minutes following a laboured performance that included just 29 touches of the ball.
After joining up with his countrymen for a brace of Nations League fixtures, Odegaard did miss Tuesday’s training session but confirmed yesterday that he had been fine to take part on Wednesday.
“I feel good,” he told yesterday’s pre-game press conference. “I took a couple of knocks in the match [against Brighton], but feel better now.
“Yesterday I trained as normal without any problems and I am ready for the match.”
It seems the Norwegian media were more interested in the news that Odegaard will soon become a father. “It’s the greatest thing in life,” said the Arsenal captain when pressed on the fact his girlfriend is pregnant.
When the news was relayed by an interpreter, it’s said the Kazakh journalists “erupted in applause”.
After this afternoon’s match, Norway will take on Austria on Monday before Odegaard can turn his attention to the north London derby.
But when will he get rid of the goatee?
Shhh he grew it at the behest of Mikel. MA infuses the goatee with essential oils which transmit an emotion to his teammates and opponents. Sandalwood usually for a big game to calm the nerves. Lemon and rosemary for increased focus. The only problem is players like John McGinn keep trying to get close to the goatee, the aromas are irresistible to men like him.
Hahaha 😀😀😀
I fucking hate international football! Boring uncompetitive rubbish!
I can’t wait until the Premier League starts up again next weekend!
Two massive games coming up against Spuds and City!
I watched Serbia v Spain and “boring uncompetitive rubbish” comes pretty close. Raya was in goal and a couple of times advanced to receive the ball in the centre circle because, I can only assume, he was trying to keep himself awake. It also reaffirmed an important insight about Chelsea: Cucarella was very good for Brighton, is quite good for Spain, but last season looked responsible for every goal scored against Chelsea. My insight: he looked responsible because he was the only Chelsea defender who knew he was supposed to be near an opponent who has the ball in Chelsea’s… Read more »
And Atalanta in between
😛
Don’t you watch WC and Euros?
At the risk of putting words in Fat’s mouth, I’d imagine he loves the Euros and the World Cup as much as any of us. These dreadful fucking interlulls throughout the season are absolutely dreadful and probably what he is referring too. And he’s be right to as well, because they are irritating beyond belief, especially 3 weeks into a season, just as things have started to get into a rhythm. So it’s not a case of ‘fuck international football’, but instead it’s ‘fuck mid-season interlulls’. Because club football is just much, much better.
I can’t speak for fats, but that is exactly 100% my thoughts on international football
All true, but right now I’m slightly thankful for bonus weeks without games to let Merino heal.
To be honest, about 90 per cent of those tournaments I just ignore. I usually just watch the semis and the final.
And I’ve given up on England: they just never win anything.
Great news for the skipper!!! 🙂
Taking stock on the season so far, I have a nagging worry about the performances as a whole. I think my chief worry is that Arsenal are too predictable and teams are able to stop us creating enough quality chances. It also seems much more frequent that they surprise us with tactical tweaks rather than the other way. The quality of the players, the organization, the commitment levels, it’s all top. But something is missing, and I think it’s an air of inevitability and a fear factor that all super teams have. Beyond needing another offensive unicorn on top of… Read more »
What gives me encouragement is that our summer signings seem to acknowledge the need for more of a “YOLO” element to our attack, but address that need intelligently. Calafiori just spent most of the game against France moving defenders around as he bounds from LCB to LCM, also popping up on the right or in the penalty box. Agent of chaos! Merino seldom saw a forward pass at La Real that he didn’t like, and as a consequence, often lost possession. But both he and Richy are also uber aggressive at winning it back and have the frame to bully… Read more »
Have I mentioned I just LOVE when my comments go to purgatory for hours? Can we have a list of prohibited words, pretty please??
This sure aged well.